tour reports » Dumfries & Galloway & Borders, Scotland

A small group of 9 friends descended on the Corner House Hotel in Annan. A decent enough but basic hotel with a large car park at the rear. Annan is a small town with a small number of pubs and fewer restaurants.

The riding around here is very good on largely quiet roads if you stay off the main trunk roads like the A76 or A75.

We took this route into the Galloway Forest. For some reason, the SW300 misses out much of this route which is a shame as it is very scenic, especially the part from Newton Stewart to Straiton across the moors on a single track road.
https://goo.gl/maps/myRnhtMtD6De42hX6
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We also went into the Borders area, over to St Mary's Loch and back via the Ettrick Valley
https://goo.gl/maps/eAieJBYdzNTENFec9
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We stopped at the café at the Loch
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We also stopped in the Market Place at Selkirk for an ice cream as it was very warm.

The ride from Selkirk through the single track roads via Ettrick was entertaining. I led and largely had a solo ride as it seems the others had some bad luck with the logging lorries. I seemed to meet them at convenient passing points.

Many people ignore this part of Scotland but it is excellent. There is a lot more to explore and we will return, perhaps staying further east to explore that side. We had great weather whilst the sout of the UK had torrential rain. The other benefit is that we did not have the midges you get further north.

See the other thread about the Forest of Bowland which I passed through on the way up.